OF all the comments that have, secretly or otherwise, emerged from Goodison this week, there is one that perhaps best highlights the shift in expectation at the club.

Twelve months ago, Everton began the campaign with genuine aspirations of challenging the established elite for Champions League qualification.

But this afternoon, with almost the same group of players, David Moyes’ men make a belated start to their Premier League season with the manager declaring a top-10 place could be the limit of his team’s ambition.

The reason is obvious: money. While Everton’s nearest rivals have been brandishing the chequebook during the summer, Moyes, his hands tied by the club’s ongoing restraints, could only watch as target after target slipped out of range.

Facing the media for the first time since the end of last season, the Goodison manager was yesterday in fighting – if realistic – mood as he grappled with the inevitable questions prompted by chairman Bill Kenwright’s bleak assessment of Everton’s financial landscape.

“What is our aim this year? To be competitive, to get to 40 points and be safe in the Premier League,” says Moyes, whose team entertain promoted Queens Park Rangers this afternoon.

“This time last year I thought I was going to win the league so let’s get the first bit done first and then we’ll see where we can go from there.

“But it will be really difficult for Everton to finish in the top 10 this year. I think we are going to have a big struggle.

“Look at the spending Stoke and Sunderland have done, Fulham have added one or two players as well, West Brom are improving their team.

“But we’ve got a good team already. We don’t need five or six players here, we need maybe one or two.

“There’s a lot of continuity here, the players know what’s expected. They know what the club’s all about. I’m really happy with the boys that I’ve got. If I can add to it, great. If I don’t, I’ll go with it.

“What we’ve got at Everton is a stability and you mustn’t take that for us getting stale or not trying to move on because there’s no-one more determined or ambitious than myself to try and make it better.”

However, Moyes admits that, having been informed by Kenwright of the further financial restraints in May, he has missed out on a number of signings.

“I had a couple of plans in my head that I thought we could make work,” he says. “I met a lot of players who I intended to bring to Everton.

“I met three or four good players I intended to bring to Everton so don’t think I wasn’t on that. But a couple of the plans I thought might come to fruition didn’t work, so we move on to the next one. I knew the situation we were in when I met Bill in May.

“Supporters want to see some signings in the summer. They want you to add players to the squad.

“But either we’ve been talking Swahili and people don’t understand us but I’m sure the chairman has been saying ‘sorry, this year we don’t have anything unless we trade’ and even if we trade probably most will go back to the bank.”

Speaking towards the end of the previous campaign, Moyes underlined the importance of fresh faces in the summer to re-energise the squad.

But the manager has been impressed by the attitude of his players during pre-season, and is confident the off-field issues will not become a distraction.

“It was important for me to do that (bring in new faces) but I’ve been really encouraged by the players,” says Moyes. “The players are doing the right things.

“We will not use this as an excuse for any result or any performance. No chance. I won’t do it and the players won’t do it.

“We’ll take the results on the chin good or bad and I think the players have the bit between their teeth. It has affected other clubs.”

Moyes adds: “There are parts of it that becoming tiring but just because you don’t have any cash it doesn’t mean you give in, or stop giving 100% or stop preparing your players properly.

“I am doing what I am employed to do, which is to get a team on the pitch which can do as well as we can.”

In matters on the field, Mikel Arteta is hopeful of a starting role today after coming through more than an hour of Monday’s friendly against Bohemians in Dublin.

Moyes must also decide whether to hand a debut to 17-year-old midfielder Ross Barkley, who has impressed during pre-season.